Elaine Dame

Elaine Dame sings – and people stop and listen. Since 1996, the woman ‘Time Out Chicago’ calls “a jazz dynamo” and “a gem in the city’s vocal jazz scene” has been turning heads and capturing attention at the city’s finest clubs and venues. From her monthly Wednesday-night residency at Macku Signature, to special performances for the University of Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center and even the Chicago Bulls, Elaine’s is a career spent at the heart of Chicago jazz, Chicago corporate entertainment, Chicago weddings and venerable Chicago jazz clubs. While her ensembles range from a guitar and vocal cocktail duet to a full sextet for dancing, Elaine is most often found performing with her quartet or her trio. An accomplished flautist as well as a stunning vocalist, she’s a genuine double threat. The musicians she works with rank among Chicago’s finest: a pianist who played with Dizzy Gillespie and Joni Mitchell, a guitarist who accompanied Barbra Streisand on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and a saxophonist who toured with Frank Sinatra whom the New York Times describes as “in the virtuoso range.” But while virtuosity is a given, it’s the joy she exudes with every note that makes Elaine’s performances unforgettable. A graduate of California State Northridge’s Theater Repertory Program, Elaine worked for years in Chicago’s theater scene before turning her whole focus to jazz. She’s a singer who understands the importance of stage presence. It’s no wonder a reviewer for Cabaret Online wrote, “She has the ability to discover the true meaning of a song and express that to her audience. Elaine Dame gave one of the finest performances I have ever seen.” Comes Love, Ms. Dame’s debut recording on the blujazz record label, was released to wide critical acclaim and international radio play. “Her joy in the act of singing is obvious throughout the entirety of Comes Love. Dame combines a freshness of approach with an unaffected fondness for the music she sings. The result is a clear-eyed approach to her material that remains accessible to a broad cross section of listeners, potentially enlarging the audience for jazz,” says Jazz Improv Magazine. Elaine is currently recording her second CD. For the past eight years, in addition to her consistent work as a jazz singer, Ms. Dame has been a private jazz vocal instructor and was honored to have been a 2013 teaching artist at Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Summer Jazz Academy, where she taught scatting workshops.